


This Life is Just a Moment

by BattlingBard



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AI, Birthday, F/F, Future, Heavy Angst, SuperCorp, justice league cameo, wedding anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 08:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11180634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BattlingBard/pseuds/BattlingBard
Summary: Kara discovers what life under a yellow sun means for her.Based on a prompt.





	This Life is Just a Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Posted it with my one shot series, but decided to let it be by itself too, so the tags will be more specific to this one shot in particular.

“Kara, what are you doing out here?” Lena steps onto the balcony of the villa, where Kara is sitting in the pink light of dawn. She wraps her arms around herself in an effort to stay warm in the crisp breeze. Kara doesn’t seem to have heard her, so she places her hand on Kara’s shoulder as she stands behind her. “Kara?”

“Sorry. I didn’t hear you.” Kara’s voice is soft, and she doesn’t move or face Lena.

Lena rubs Kara’s back. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… I’m so happy with you. I love you so much, Lena.”

“I love you too, Kara,” Lena whispers.

“Can you ever watch too many sunrises?” Kara grabs Lena’s hand on her shoulder and tugs her to sit on her lap. Lena settles into Kara’s warmth as she feels Kara’s arms slide around her waist. Kara’s chin settles on Lena’s shoulder. “All of the colors seem to make the ocean even more beautiful.”

Lena hums in acknowledgement. “I love National City, but I’m not ready to go back.” She lets out a heavy sigh.

“It’s been almost two weeks, love.” Kara tightens her hold on Lena.

“And National City has been doing just fine without us.” Lena burrows further into Kara’s hold.

“For now.” Kara kisses the top of Lena’s head. “The longer we take to get back, the more likely we are to get a call from Alex about Lori and Livia finding my old suits and taking them for a test run.”

“They’re 16 and 14, Kara. Livia only just started getting her powers.”

“And their moms are gone on their 20th anniversary vacation. Do you really think they haven’t at least gone for a midnight flight or two?”

“If we don’t think about it, we can pretend they are the kind of kids that sit at home and do homework.”

“They do that, too.” Kara teases.

“It’s summer vacation.”

“They’re your daughters though.”

Lena playfully slaps Kara’s shoulder. “So funny.”

They fall into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Kara sighs heavily as the sun rises higher in the sky. “Remember our first date?”

A fond laugh falls from Lena’s lips. “I will never forget it. It’s one of my favorite memories.”

“Never?” Kara’s voice is soft beside Lena’s ear.

“Never,” Lena whispers. Kara falls silent again. “I can hear you thinking. Want to share?” Lena’s voice is open and gentle.

“Never is such a… heavy word.” Kara’s forehead wrinkles as she tries to sort her thoughts.

“Is it?”

“I, uh, hadn’t really thought about ‘never’ before. I mean… I did, but didn’t…” She lets out a frustrated sigh. Lena takes one of Kara’s hands around her waist and flips it over. She lightly runs her fingertips along Kara’s palm, an action that always soothes her wife. Lena feels Kara relax behind her. “I was talking to Kal-El a couple of months ago.” She sighs. “I, um, ran into him at the Fortress. He was there when I went to check on something. Um, he was doing some research into our lives under a yellow sun.” Lena cuddles Kara closer. “Not just the two of us, but the girls and Kon-EL, too.”

After Kara remains silent for a few minutes, Lena brings Kara’s hand to her lips to place a kiss on it. “You can tell me, love.”

Kara takes a deep, shaky breath. “I’m going to have to spend a long time without you in my life.... Long as in forever.”

“I know,” Kara whispers after a moment.

“What?”

“Kara.” Lena adjusts in Kara’s lap to be able to look at her wife. “You haven’t physically changed since the day you shuffled into my office behind Clark Kent, clinging a notepad to your chest.”

“Lena.” Kara’s voice threatens to crack. “How do we tell the girls? How are we supposed to live on and see you become more and more of a memory? What if people forget you? What if we just end up going day by day, forgetting who we are? Lena, how am I supposed to live until this sun dies without you in my life? I can’t-”

“Kara, dear… My love…” Lena strokes Kara’s cheek. “You are going to do such amazing things. Livia will take over L-Corp, leading it to places I can’t even imagine right now. They will have children, and none of them will ever starve for love because they will always have you. You’ll live on without me, finding new people to bring into your life.”

“No. I could never replace you, Lena. Not even when the sun begins to turn red.”

Lena takes both of Kara’s hands. Her vision blurs with the tears she can no longer contain. “Think about all of the birthdays you will celebrate, Kara.”

A tear runs down Kara’s cheek as her eyes never leave Lena’s. “What will be the point of celebrating without all of the people I love?”

Bringing a hand to Kara’s cheek, Lena wipes away another tear before it can fall. “You will forever have our love, Kara. You are the love of my life. Even when I’m gone, the love I feel for you will live on… through you… through Livia and Lori… When they give us grandchildren, I’m going to spoil them and teach them everything I know. They’ll have so much love, they won’t know what to do with it besides share it with others.” Kara brushes away the tears escaping Lena’s eyes. “Kara, I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Lena. I’ll always love you.”

“Always is an awfully long time, my love.”

“Nothing, not even time, is strong enough to break my love for you. A thousand years from now, I’m going to still be singing on your birthday and making that cake you love so much.”

A sob escapes Lena, but she doesn’t break eye contact with Kara. “You-you have to make me a promise.”

“Anything.” Kara’s voice cracks.

“After your 100th birthday, you have to start using numbered candles. Kara, promise me.” She chokes out a laugh through her sobs. “You can’t just keep getting a bigger and bigger cake. I know you could put it out in two seconds, but I don’t need you starting a fire because you put 1,000 candles on a cake the size of our kitchen. Do you hear me, Kara?”

Kara’s lip is trembling as tears fall freely down her cheeks. “I hear you, Lena.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. I’ll use number candles starting on my 101st birthday.”

“Good.” Lena wipes away the tears on Kara’s cheek and places a kiss on the trembling lips. “Same with the girls, okay?”

“Okay.” Kara’s voice comes out strangled. “No burning down the kitchen. Got it?”

“And you can’t just lock yourself up somewhere on my birthday, Kara. The girls will need you. No crying on my birthday, okay? That’s a rule. Make sure the girls know. Not just for my birthday either. Alex, Maggie, Eliza… everyone, Kara. Our birthdays are not for crying. Do you remember what you taught me about birthdays?”

Kara sniffles, choking back a sob. “Birthdays are for celebrating with the people you love.”

“Exactly. So don’t go changing the rules just because I’m not around anymore.”

“I won’t.” Kara’s voice is almost a squeak. “Lena, I don’t know if I can-”

“You can.” Lena takes in a shaky breath, ignoring the tears on her cheeks. “You will. You are so strong, Kara.”

“Not the same kind of strong as you.”

“Yes, you are. We’ve made each other stronger, love. Every moment with you has made me stronger.”

“Stronger together.”

“El mayarah,” Lena whispers before kissing Kara’s lips. “Just because I won’t be physically with you, doesn’t mean that I’m not with you. I told you before… You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“And I told you… I will never want to.” Kara’s lip trembles. “There has to be some way-”

“Kara… we don’t know when.... We shouldn’t spend our time worrying about something we can’t control, love. Don’t waste whatever time we have left… which could be a very long time for all we know. I’m going to make sure you feel all of my love every day. There will be a time, centuries from now, where the time you spent with me will feel as insignificant as a single hour, but-”

“Don’t say that, Lena. A single minute spent with you means everything to me. **You** mean everything to me.”  Kara loses control of her sobs, and Lena pulls her close.

Lena whispers words of love, and Kara buries her face in Lena’s hair. Her tears flow uncontrollably as she rests her cheek against Kara’s head. She bites her lip to keep herself from breaking down, too. “You’re everything to me, Kara,” she whispers, rubbing Kara’s back. “I promise I will do everything I can, so you will never feel alone in your great lifetime.” Kara cries harder, and Lena finally loses the battle with her sobs. “Never forget my love, Kara.”

“Never.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

* * *

Kara carries a small, cardboard box down the hallway of the Justice League Watchtower. Her eyes are staring straight ahead. Stopping in front of a door with her family crest engraved on it, she places a hand on the biometric scanner with an L-Corp logo. The door slide open quietly. Taking a steadying breath, Kara steps into the room. Exercise equipment, all designed by L-Corp, fills one side of the room. The far side of the room holds the bare minimum bedroom furniture. Several Supergirl suits hang on the wall. Kara walks to a small table and places the box on top of it. A hand lingers on the top for a moment before she opens it. She bites her lip as she reaches into her jacket pocket to pull out several objects. Pain shoots through her lip as she bites harder when she takes the contents of the box out. Moving the box out of the way, she places the contents onto the table with reverent care. Her hand slides to one of the objects from her pocket and sticks it on top of the box contents.

She has to close her eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she reaches for the last object on the table. With a gentle flick of her finger, the lighter ignites in her hand. Slowly, she brings the flame to the five wicks in front of her. She sets the lighter down and places her palm against the table as her lips tremble.

“You never said anything about not crying on my birthday, Lena,” she whispers.

“Kara, that’s kind of cheating.”

“I think it's more of a loophole.” Kara’s eyes don’t leave the cake.

“Aren’t you going to blow out your candles before wax gets on the frosting? I know you hate that.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Kara closes her eyes, sucking in a shaky breath. Without opening her eyes, she gently blows out the candles.

“What did you wish for?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”

A sigh comes from behind Kara. “Will it come true even if you don’t tell me?”

Kara chokes back a sob. “Probably not.”

“Will you please look at me?”

“I can’t.” Kara barely holds back another sob.

“Yes, you can.”

Biting her trembling lip, Kara slowly turns around. “Okay.” Her voice is impossibly small.

“There’s my hero.”

Kara bites her lip harder as she takes in the sight of her wife smiling adoringly at her from the small platform in the middle of her room. “Lena.” A quick sob escapes her lips.

“Happy birthday, love.”

“I used the number candles… like I promised.” Kara ignores the tears streaming down her face.

“You always keep your promises. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

Kara lets out a loud sob and brings a hand to cover her mouth. “Lena, I love you so much.”

“I love you, Kara. You’re my own yellow sun.”

“If that were true… you’d be here right now with me.” Kara’s sobs overtake her, and she falls to her knees on the floor.

“My love is still with you, Kara. It’s yours forever.”

Kara sits with her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. “What’s forever without you to share it with?”

“I’m right here, Kara.”

“No. Stop. Stop! STOP!” Kara’s following scream sets off her heat vision. The beam hits a large scorch mark on the opposite wall. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for any of this.” She curls into a ball on the floor, falling asleep to Lena’s humming of Kara’s favorite song.

**Author's Note:**

> PS: Lena made one of all of Kara's family. They all come out for everyone else's birthdays. Maggie and Alex's kid even has one too.


End file.
